Four thousand fewer student teachers will receive a place to train at
university this year, raising fears of massive overcrowding in primary
schools over the next decade.

Teaching unions warned that the figures, released in a parliamentary answer, showed that the Government was failing to address the mini-baby boom which has already seen severe shortages of primary school places in parts of the country.

More than one in 10 university places which were available to would-be student teachers last year will be cut in the next academic year, which starts in October.

Overall, numbers will fall from just under 31,000 to 27,000, with Canterbury Christ Church University seeing the largest drop, of nearly 300 places, followed by Liverpool John Moores on 178 and Edge Hill University with 169.

The Department for Education said that the reduction was a response to declining secondary school rolls, which have fallen by five per cent since 2004.

Places for would-be primary school teachers are set to increase by five per cent.

However, unions are concerned that this will not be sufficient to cope with the soaring birth rate, which has led to estimates of an 18 per cent rise in youngsters attending primary school by 2018.

Gareth Thomas, the shadow universities minister, said: “By cutting student places … this Government is yet again reducing opportunities for the next generation.

“Too many young people will be denied the chance to continue their education and fulfil their ambitions because of ministers’ rushed and ill-thought through policies.”

But a spokesman for the Department for Education said: “Training more teachers than the country needs is a waste of money.

“Pupil numbers are falling sharply in secondary schools so it is common sense that the number of new teachers required also declines – the taxpayer would rightly ask questions if we continued to train people who had no jobs to go to.”

The spokesman added that when numbers of trainee teachers were included who came into the profession via other routes, such as being trained abroad, or on class-based programmes such as Teach First, the overall decline would be only 1,200.